DENVER — Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced today that a Jefferson County District Court judge has sentenced Dallas Colby Cardenas (DOB: 9/3/1991), of Denver, to eight years in prison following his conviction for trafficking a child.

A Jefferson County jury convicted Cardenas in June of trafficking of a child, pimping, pimping of a child and two other related charges for his role in pimping two individuals between May 2010 and June 2010. According to the indictment, handed down in October 2010, Cardenas trafficked a 17-year-old female and pimped another, forcing both to participate in prostitution in the Denver and Lakewood areas. Cardenas had sexually suggestive Craigslist ads posted and coerced the two victims to have sex with individuals who responded to the advertisements.

Cardenas’ jury conviction was the first of its kind under the human trafficking law the Colorado General Assembly enacted in 2006.

The Office of the Attorney General obtained the indictment and prosecuted the pair with the assistance of the Denver Police Department, the Lakewood Police Department and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.